In the age of digitization and constantly increasing complexity, agile working methods are becoming increasingly essential in order to be able to react flexibly to changes. Agile work and agile teams are the answer to the challenges posed by digital transformation. In this blog, we will take a closer look at the six key pillars of agile work and explain how you can successfully implement them in your company. We'll also take a look at how software for project time recording — such as ZEP — can help your team achieve your goals efficiently.
What does agile work actually mean?
The Latin word “Agilis” means “agile, active” and is derived from “agere,” which means “perform, act.” As early as the 1950s — i.e. long before the digital transformation — Talcot Parsons laid the system-theoretical foundation for agile work with its AGILE scheme (Adaptation, Goal Attainment, Integration, Latency). This describes the capabilities of a self-sustaining social system. A scheme that you can use today to incorporate agile work into your project business. Because: Agile work takes place at various levels within your company, from agile teams to agile management to a fully agile business organization.
What are the benefits of agile work?
Agile working methods have become increasingly important in recent years, as they enable companies to react more flexibly and effectively to changing requirements and market conditions. In addition, offers agile project management the following benefits:
Get products to market faster: Agile working methods enable teams to deliver products in shorter development cycles, which enables companies to respond faster to customer feedback and gain competitive advantages.
Continuous improvement through feedback loops: Through regular feedback from customers and team members, agile teams can Feedback culture in the company improve, which leads to higher quality and customer satisfaction.
Flexibility and adaptability: Agile methods enable teams to adapt quickly to changing requirements — such as new Trends in the labor market — by setting new priorities and adapting the way they work accordingly, which increases resilience to unforeseen challenges.
Transparent communication and collaboration: The principles of agile working methods promote open communication and collaboration within and between teams, resulting in better information sharing, more effective problem solving, and stronger team spirit.
Increased employee satisfaction and involvement: Agile working methods emphasize the self-organization and personal responsibility of team members, which leads to higher motivation, satisfaction and commitment, as employees have more influence on their work and identify more strongly with the company's goals. For new employees, agile working methods also have advantages in all Onboarding phases.
For which companies does agile work make sense?
Agile working is particularly useful for companies in which collaborative work is in the foreground. Because: You have to manage complex projects with constantly changing requirements.
This includes companies in the areas of software development, IT services, marketing agencies and companies that develop innovative products. These industries benefit from close collaboration between different teams and rapid adjustments to be able to respond to customer feedback or market changes. In agile environments, teams can flexibly set priorities, communicate transparently and work in short iterations, which helps projects to be completed more efficiently and successfully.
Examples of agile work
In today's business world, agile work has become essential to adapt quickly to change. Companies such as Spotify, Google, Amazon, Zalando and Airbnb show how agile principles can be successfully implemented.
Spotify relies on autonomously working “squads,” “tribes,” and “chapters,” while Google drives innovation with regular sprints and an open corporate culture. Amazon promotes rapid product development with “two-pizza teams” and agile frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban. Zalando emphasizes self-organization and personal responsibility in order to respond flexibly to customer needs. Airbnb is successfully developing its business model through iterative processes and continuous customer feedback.
Agile team work: These are the 6 cornerstones
Agile work is not just vague flexibility or acceleration of work processes, but rather a structured form of collaboration that clashes with traditional organizational structures, hierarchies and individual professional socialization. The successful work of agile teams is based on six fundamental pillars:
Voluntariness — accept changes
Volunteering is crucial for successful agile work. Only if your team participates voluntarily can you enjoy participating in the process. The belief that everyone always does their best and takes responsibility for their actions goes hand in hand with voluntary action. Team members who feel committed or have been hired by you as supervisors are not beneficial to your company in the long term. Because: Voluntariness and the will to change enable self-organization and release from external control.
Formulate goals & mission statements
Agile work requires clear goals and mission statements that all of your team members can identify with. At company level, the corporate mission statement or purpose forms the basis from which strategies for your teams and projects can be derived. Without clear goals and mission statements, agile work sinks into chaos, as no one knows how and which goals can be achieved. It is therefore crucial to invest in formulating mission statements and goals, as they form the basis for agile work.
Adaptation & communication
Agile work is an empirical process that regularly reviews work results and reprioritizes requirements. Planning only extends until the next interval in order to react flexibly to changes. Feedback is integral, and feedback loops are firmly anchored in the agile process. The Scrum framework defines these intervals as sprints of up to 1-4 weeks. Results are discussed in reviews to optimize team collaboration. Constructive communication is crucial.
Customer centricity — customers as an integral part
If you opt for an agile work process, be sure to actively involve your customers. What does that mean exactly? Well, you should analyze, understand, and (if possible) anticipate customer issues and needs. Prototypes involve your customer in development at an early stage of the product life cycle, so that your customer has the opportunity to provide concrete feedback early on. To record, classify and process customer needs, agile teams use various methods, such as customer journey mapping, user stories or the jobs-to-be-done method.
Autonomous & self-determined work
Agile work relies on small, autonomous and self-organized teams that make important decisions independently. The agreed mission and goals as well as business and user requirements serve as guidelines. Self-organization means taking responsibility for achieving goals by every team member. Trust and clear goals are essential. Autonomy requires all necessary resources and competencies within the team to achieve goals independently.
Value orientation — prioritize, focus, do
The goal of agile work is to create concrete and measurable value. All tasks should have a clear value contribution, which is achieved through value orientation and prioritization. Implementation requires a rethink and a change in the mindset of employees, as they must assume responsibility, set priorities and, if necessary, reject them. Transparent mission statements, goals and tangible examples are crucial to promote the team mindset.
Methods and techniques for agile work
Agile work comprises various methods and techniques that aim to react flexibly to changing requirements and ensure continuous progress. One such methodology is, for example, the Agile Manifesto, which defines the basic principles of agile work.
User stories: User stories are the basic building blocks of agile development. These short, concise descriptions of features from the user's perspective enable teams to focus on the needs of end users. By clearly formulating requirements, they provide a solid basis for planning and implementing tasks, which drives development forward in a targeted manner.
Task boards: Task boards are an essential tool for organizing and managing tasks in agile projects. By visually presenting tasks in various status categories, they enable a transparent and efficient way of working. By allowing teams to track their progress and identify bottlenecks, task boards support continuous improvement and make it easier to prioritize tasks.
Feature Driven Development (FDD): Feature Driven Development (FDD) is an iterative and incremental method that focuses on delivering functional parts of a product on a regular basis. By identifying and prioritizing features, FDD enables structured development that is geared to specific customer requirements and ensures rapid added value.
Extreme Programming: Extreme Programming (XP) is an agile method based on principles such as continuous feedback, collaboration, and high code quality. Through practices such as test-driven development and pair programming, XP promotes close team collaboration and makes it possible to respond flexibly to changing requirements without neglecting the quality of the code.
Introduce agile teamwork successfully: 6 tips
Now that we've looked at the cornerstones of agile work, it's time for practice. As a manager, how can you ensure that not only do the terms agility and agile teamwork remain in the room, but that a change and improvement is actually achieved in collaboration? We would like to give you six tips on how to help your team actively shape and successfully implement the process of agile work:
Tip 1: Create a common understanding
The term “agility” is widely used and offers various interpretations. It is important to clarify within the team what ideas and expectations are associated with this, and to set specific goals for the introduction of agile methods. Agility offers the opportunity to react flexibly and quickly to changes. In agile teams, members work independently, ideally with their own budget and without hierarchies or a permanent team leader. Decision-making processes are short and higher-level authorities only interfere in exceptional cases when intractable problems arise.
Tip 2: Close competency gaps
An agile team is invaluable for effective problem solving in complex situations. Teams should therefore be made up of employees who can act in a self-organized and independent manner. People who need ongoing instructions may not be right for agile teams. An agility competency check can help to evaluate existing skills and identify targeted continuing education measures to close agile skills gaps.
Tip 3: Explain the benefits
When introducing agile teamwork, it is crucial to involve employees and consider their needs. The shift to agile ways of working should be seen as a means to achieve better results. Involving employees in the transition process is important to avoid being overwhelmed. The common goal is more efficient and successful project implementation.
Tip 4: Start with a pilot project
Care should be taken when introducing agile teamwork to avoid potential hurdles. Don't start a project that could jeopardize the existence of your company. Instead, choose a manageable project and inform all relevant departments about the introduction of an agile team. Give the team autonomy and budget responsibility without allowing external influence to prevent agile ways of working from failing. Rely on your team's know-how and will to successfully complete the pilot project after you have carried out a competency check. As a manager, it is important to hand over responsibility and grant the agile team the necessary autonomy.
Tip 5: Objectively evaluate failures
When introducing agile structures as a manager, you face challenges. It is important to attribute team successes to the team rather than attributing them to individual employees. Avoid individualizing successes and failures, but view them as the result of teamwork and existing structures. Recognize achievements that are only possible through agile collaboration and, for example, rename the “Employee of the Month” category to “Team of the Month” to emphasize team performance.
Tip 6: Actively support implementation
As a manager, it is crucial to manage employees according to their level of agile development. This requires the application of different leadership styles that are tailored to the specific situation and person. For employees who still need guidance, a hierarchical approach is appropriate. A transformational approach is based on inspiration and vision. As a coaching manager, you help employees to help themselves. The overall goal is for team members to be able to develop solutions to problems independently.
Project-oriented agile work made easy
Agile work, in particular agility in project management, is already highly valued in many project-oriented industries such as software development, engineering and construction, and business consulting. The implementation of this working method is supported by methods such as Scrum, while software solutions such as ZEP help with practical implementation and documentation. When adapting to agile methods such as Scrum, we support you with the ZEP additional module module Tickets, tasks & to-dos. This allows you to plan and manage tasks in detail.
The ZEP module plays a crucial role in efficiently implementing your agile team goals. It enables structured planning and monitoring of tasks and to-dos, which contributes to targeted implementation. The clear allocation of tickets to projects and delegation within the team create transparency in communication and promote cooperation between all team members. This transparent way of working not only makes it easier to distribute tasks, but also helps all team members understand their tasks in the context of the overall project.
Agile teams depend on reacting flexibly to changes. The ZEP add-on module offers you the necessary flexibility here, as it allows you to easily adjust tasks and priorities.
Actively promote the self-organization and autonomy of your team. The ZEP module serves as a tool for you to strengthen the responsibility of your team members. Planning the time required and monitoring processing at detailed task level helps save time and overall effectiveness of the team.
Feel free to contact our support team personally if you have any questions. Or take advantage of the opportunity to join one of our webinars across all Features of ZEP to inform. Would you like to try out ZEP directly? Here you can get yours free trial.
conclusion
In the age of digitization and increasing complexity, agile work has become indispensable in order to be able to react flexibly to changes. Agile teams and methods provide an answer to the challenges of digital transformation by enabling companies to respond quickly to changing requirements and market conditions. The six cornerstones of agile work — voluntariness, clear goals, adaptability, customer centricity, autonomy and value orientation — form the basis for successful agile teamwork.
Companies that rely on agile working methods benefit from increased flexibility, continuous improvement and transparent communication, which leads to more efficient project implementation and higher employee satisfaction. By implementing software solutions such as ZEP, companies can further optimize their agile work processes and effectively implement their team goals.
